?How Can I Keep From Singing?? is, perhaps, the second most well-known gospel hymn authored by Robert Lowry (1826-1899) ? the first being ?Shall We Gather at the River?? Born in Philadelphia, Lowry studied at Pennsylvania's Lewisburg (today Bucknell) University; was ordained a Baptist minister in 1854; served in churches in Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey; and later returned to Lewisburg and served as chancellor. Best remembered as a writer of more than 500 gospel songs and hymns, Lowry served as editor for Biglow and Main publishing company, where he edited numerous gospel song books and hymn books. Like Horatio Spafford?s ?It Is Well With My Soul,? Lowry?s ?How Can I Keep From Singing?? (also known as ?Endless Song?) expresses confidence in the eternal promises of Christ in spite of temporal circumstances. Its first verse and refrain proclaim: "My life flows on in endless song above earth?s lamentation; I catch the sweet, though far-off hymn, that hails a new creation. (Refrain): No storm can shake my inmost calm while to that Rock I?m clinging; since Christ is Lord of heaven and earth, how can I keep from singing?" This intermediate-level arrangement is quick to rehearse, satisfying to play, and well-received by audiences. Suitable for high school ensembles, church and community musicians, and professionals for use in concert, recital, and worship. Ideal as a prelude or offertory/communion anthem. ©Copyright 2016 Todd Marchand / ConSpiritoMusic.com

One of the best-loved gospel songs worldwide, ?How Great Thou Art? began as a nine-stanza hymn of praise, ?O Store Gud? (?O Great God?), written in 1885 by Swedish poet and lay minister Carl Gustav Boberg (1859?1940). In 1891 Boberg published the poem, accompanied by a Swedish folk melody, in Sanningsvittnet (Witness for the Truth), a weekly Christian journal of which he was editor. Today, the tune is commonly named ?Sanningsvittnet? in hymnals. From its Swedish origins, the text was translated to German in 1907, then to Russian in 1912. The Russian text became the basis for a translation to English by Stuart W. K. Hine (1899?1989), a British Methodist missionary who discovered it in 1931 while on mission in the Ukraine. Hine's work commonly contains four verses: the first two being a relatively close translation of stanzas by Boberg, and the latter two being original verses by Hine. Published in 1949, ?How Great Thou Art? gained great popularity in North America after George Beverly Shea began singing it in the Billy Graham evangelistic crusades in 1955. It has been named the #1 favorite hymn by respondents to various polls in both the United States and United Kingdom. ©Copyright 2013 Todd Marchand / ConSpiritoMusic.com